was that ashley moore spotted in the lobby of the infamous arconia hotel? must just be serafina ‘fin’ madison the twenty-three year old candy counter clerk. whenever i heard life on mars? by david bowie it reminds me of them. they are known for being spacey and deflective but they make up for that by being imaginative and creative. they have been working at the arconia for three years while they are visiting the big apple. we hope they enjoy their stay.
penned by b, twenty-two, they/them.
trigger warning - brief descriptions of domestic abuse found under the cut.
born to parents who’s expectations were always too high. they never understood her, nor did they make a proper effort to. why would they do that when they could fawn over her perfect older sister instead?
won’t you ever stop disappointing us, serafina? why can’t you be more like your sister, serafina? when will you ever learn, serafina? why won’t you just grow up, serafina?
her name became unbearable to hear due to the association with her parents reprimanding her. so before she was even ten she was just fin. adding another disappointment to her parents’ list.
the name we gave you was a beautiful name. why are you so insistent on being difficult? on being ugly? we don’t want you to be special or different, we need you to fit in with this family.
her sister wasn’t to blame. it wasn’t her fault that she so naturally did what pleased their parents. fin knew this, but as a child and then as a teen struggling with so much, how could she not find herself resenting her?
being related to little miss perfect sure has its hang ups. how can i hate her when she’s such an angel? the answer is easily.
maybe her problems stemmed from being so different, but being different was the one thing that always helped her through. obsessed with art, media, literature, creativity, fin’s head was always in the cloud.
i’m going to disappoint either way, who could possibly follow in my sister’s footsteps? i might as well find an escape where i can.
imagination saved her from having to dwell on the harshness that was her life. she escaped by any means possible, but upon finishing high school her father kicked her out of their home.
if you’re not going to even try to make something real of yourself, we won’t be able to tolerate you here with us.
the transition and timing wasn’t ideal, but fin had always wanted to get out of there. she needed to find somewhere she fit in, somewhere where she would no longer be considered a burden or disappointment.
new york city. that’s where all the dreamers go, right?
“three years? fuck, i haven’t really ran into you, have i? maybe we have different shifts,” he reasons. “shut up,” aaron rolls his eyes with a smile. he knows he has a bad habit, but he can’t really quit it. not right now. the stress is high and he needs it to treat his anxiety. at least that’s his logic. maybe the meds aren’t enough, so he turns to nicotine. “yeah, that’d be nice,” he nods his head and stomps on the cigarette butt before picking it up and tossing it in the trash can next to him. “are you happy at the arconia?” he asks casually.
“it’s new york city, we could have easily run into each other millions of times without noticing each other properly.” she laughs softly as she speaks. not only was new york an ever changing city with millions of people from all over the world coming and going, but the arconia saw a lot of interesting characters too; neither of them should be expected to remember every face they meet. “don’t worry, we all have our vices.” she smiles. she doesn’t want to judge, nor does she want to make him feel bad. “i think i’m happy here.” she tells him honestly. “i’m happier, at least.” she settles on her answer, it not being something she’s thought about too much, and not something she wishes to focus on in case what she finds isn’t what she wants. “and you?”
emily usually wasn’t the skittles loving gal, quite the opposite really, but somehow she was craving them at this very moment. the words hit her like a bus, and yes, she was being dramatic. but in her defense, she had specifically and only gotten dressed to go buy a bag of skittles. “no fuc— no way,” she quickly stopped herself from cursing, “the guy– this guy … wasn’t by any chance about 6′2? brown hair? good looking but a mediocre vibe? …maybe even tipped you, like, fifty bucks?”
the dramatic nature of the woman surprises fin, but in a pleasant way. since moving to new york, fin has learnt that the large city is filled with nothing but the most extraordinary people, and quickly it became one of her favourite things. “i suppose his hair was brown - it was a light brown, though, and he strikes me as the kind of guy who would tell people he was blonde instead.” she explains. “i’m not sure about his height, but he definitely didn’t tip me that much. didn’t tip me at all, actually, not even after i lugged out a whole case of skittles for him.” she shrugs her shoulders; it’s annoying when a customer expects so much from you without doing anything to pay you for your efforts, but fin can hardly complain, being used to that treatment. “why, d’you know some infamous skittles lover that i’ve never heard of before?” she asks with a small laugh.
the girl was craving skittles and it felt like forever since she had bought some so she decided to go to the candy counter to get some but when she arrived she found not a single bag of skittles and she saw fin working so she smiled at her and thought to ask if they had any left out back. noa was very suprised to head that some guy had come in and bought all the skittles, “wow that’s so odd, like who does that” she said with a small laugh, “oh that’s okay, not a big deal, was just one of those cravings.” she said. “but thank you though, im sure i’ll find something else to cure my sugar craving, but is there anything you suggest?”
“it’s so interesting, so peculiar.” she comments, nodding her head, feeling glad that noa seems to share the same confusion as her over the strange occurrence. “i’m dying to know what he needs them all for, honestly. and why he would get them all here, rather than a store that would have a lot more and still leave some for the other customers.” she thinks out loud, though she finishes speaking with a shrug. she’ll forever be left to wonder, and that’s alright. “runts, fruit chews, swedish fish, sour patch kids, mentos, nerds…” she begins listing the other candy similar to skittles, looking around at the items she’s selling to ensure she doesn’t miss any good suggestions.
it’s that particularly SLOW hour at the hotel : the one after most of the patrons have returned to their rooms or left, but still too early to clock out. so finley has left her hostess stand in search of something more interesting than her phone or the dull droning of the couple still eating. it brings her to the candy counter which has the double benefit of being well the candy counter AND fin on duty. she very professionally doesn’t laugh too loudly when she hears what the other has to say, reserving her real commentary until the hotel patron has walked away with presumably their second choice candy. “ so they —like— really wanted to taste the rainbow, huh ?? ” she says in way of greeting, leaning casually on the counter, one forearm steadying her. “ maybe they’re making skittles vodka — drink the rainbow, y’know ?? ”
“i don’t know if just tasting the rainbow covers what they wanted to do. sounded more to me like they wanted to be the rainbow, or something. words can’t describe how many skittles they bought, honestly.” she laughs softly, the laugh closely followed by an exasperated shake of her head. “if that’s their plan then they either have a whole lot of party guests, or they’re looking to go out with a bang.” she comments, widening her eyes for dramatic effect as she speaks, trying to really reiterate how many skittles the customer bought. “i’ve never seen anything like it before. and i get a lot of customers coming down here with late night munchies.”
“same,” he jokes with her. “yeah, i’ve been here for three months next tuesday. you’re at the candy shop, aren’t you? i would go there every single day if you sold cigarettes,” aaron grins as he looks down at his own. “i’m gonna die young,” he shrugs his shoulders, dismissing it quickly. “is your shift starting soon? i need some company right now. i feel like… i’m just so bored, to be honest.”
“uh huh. i’ve been working the candy counter for three years now.” she tells him with a look of disbelief on her own face; it certainly doesn’t feel like she’s been in new york for that long already. “consuming enough of our products will also help you die young, you know. just in a way that doesn’t smell as bad or feel as harsh going down.” she comments with a shug. fin didn’t intend on offending him, not wanting to sound like she was judging, purely only stating facts. “not for another half hour. i can keep you company, if you’d really like.” she smiles as she speaks. spontaneity has always been fin’s pace.
“ all of your skittles ? ” sonny couldn’t imagine why someone would need that many of one kind of candy. “ what’s your theory on it ? why do you think he needed them all ? ” he would worry about the candy he wanted to replace the skittles he originally came here for later; for now, all he wanted to do was figure out the strange skittle man with his best friend. “ that’s just so… strange. ” he laughed, shaking his head and leaning against the counter. “ maybe i’ll go with some sour patch kids. ” he mused.
fin laughs over the fact that sonny seems so genuinely interested in the mystery that is the man and the many, many bags of skittles. it’s reassuring in a way, to know that she isn’t the only one left so curious and so desperate for an answer. “you know, my first thought was that he got enough to fill his entire bathtub. maybe that could be it, he just wants a bath of skittles?” maybe it’s an out there theory, but it’s truthfully the only thing she’s thought of. “no one can eat that many skittles.” she reasons further. “sour patch kids, good choice.” she nods before turning to get him what he’s asked for. “unfortunately, however, i do not have any interesting stories about sour patch kids today.”
“i know it sounds kind of unbelievable-” they were words fin had found herself saying more in her life than any other, she felt. “but i just had this guy come in and buy every single bag of skittles we had. and we had a lot of them. he even asked me to for all of the bags out the back too, leaving us with not a single skittle in sight.” she tells the customer, giving them a somewhat sad, sorry smile. “the soonest i can get more in is tomorrow morning, i’ve already made the call. can i get you anything else in the mean time? we have plenty to choose from.”
aaron has limited breaks but he always finds himself at the side of the hotel, smoking a cigarette. “aye,” he says to the person that’s walking past him. “you going to the arconia?” he asks. his time as a doorman is kind of boring, so anyone that has the slight interest in him, and when he has the slight interested in them, he strikes up a conversation. many times people ignore him, especially when he’s in his uniform. like now.
fin’s attention is immediately captured by the man, his abrupt calling to her being enough to break her out of her thoughts. “every single day for the rest of my life, probably.” she jokes lightly, acting as if she’ll be working behind the candy counter until the day she dies. “you work the door, yeah? i’ve seen you.” it was hard to miss someone you walk past almost every day on your way to work, even while new york city is a broad place with more people than fin could ever imagine.
